Saline Wins All 12 Events to Win SEC Meet

The two-time defending state champion boys swim and dive team from Saline went into Saturday’s SEC meet and won all 12 events.

And it’s a good thing, too, because even with 12 first place finishes, Saline barely edged Pioneer, 556-544.5 to win the league meet.

“We knew this was going to be a dogfight. We’re not fully rested yet.  So you just come out here and try to gut it out. We did that,” said Saline coach Todd Brunty.

Saline began resting earlier in the week with the idea of being in peak condition when the state finals at Eastern Michigan University March 9-10.

Captain James Fisher said while winning the SEC isn’t the ultimate goal, it was definitely on the list.

“It’s always good to come into this pool and win. Pioneer always has a great team and we knew they were coming for us,” said Fisher. “With this out of the way, now we can focus on the state meet.”

Saline set three SEC records and two Pioneer pool records.

Saline set a pool record and SEC record in the 400-yard free relay. David Boland, Fisher, Josh Ehrman and Adam Whitener finished the race in 3:09.36 to win the event by more than seven seconds. Last year’s Saline team won the event in 3:13.69.

Josh Ehrman set an SEC Record and Pioneer pool mark in the 200-yard individual medley, winning in 1:53.17. Ehrman’s was almost three seconds faster than the second place finisher.

Boland set an SEC Record in the 100 breaststroke. Boland finished the race in 58.74 seconds, winning the race by nearly three full seconds.

Though Saline won every event, Pioneer kept it close with depth, often placing four and five swimmers in the points.

Saline opened the day by winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1:37.99. Tom Walls, Boland, Michael Bundas and Austin Deal swam for Saline, which won the race by almost two seconds.

Adam Whitener won the 200-yard freestyle event in 1:42.68, barely edging Pioneer senior and 2011 champ Seiji Osawa, who finished in 1:42.76. Osawa came into the event with the fastest times in Friday’s preliminaries.

Fisher was third in 1:45.90. Matt Stevens was eighth in 1:49.55.

Ehrman had no trouble winning the 200-yard individual medley, knocking more than three seconds off his preliminary time. Stefan Koberl finished seventh (2:03.17), Lucas Allen was 10^th (2:06.10) and Simon Rucinski was 16^th (2:12.17).

Boland won the 50-yard sprint, finishing in 21.42. Bundas was second in 22:09. Deal took 14^th in 23.26. Will McCullough was 15^th in 23:43.

Sam Blair won the diving event with a score of 399.55, 11.1 points better than Pioneer’s Daniel Goldstein. Saline’s Ethan Johnson was third with 373.05. Dustin Wall was seventh with 315.70. Jacob Aulisa finished 12^th with 260.45 points.

Saline’s seniors owned the 100-yard fly.

Fisher won the event in 52.79. Walls was fourth in 53.97. Stevens was fifth in 55.70.

Freshman Ian McEwan was 16^th in 1:02.69.

Whitener won his second event of the afternoon in the 100-yard freestyle. He finished in 46.92. Whitener shaved .16 seconds of his 2011 SEC championship time.  Bundas was second in 58.71. Matt Lund finished in 51.73 to place 14^th.

Ehrman’s second victory came in the 500-yard freestyle. Ehrman completed the race in 4:39.52, a shade under five seconds faster than Pioneer’s Osawa. Matt Sieffert was ninth in 5:00.25. Austin Deal (11^th, 5:07.89) and Geoffrey Duong (13^th, 5:09.45) also scored points for Saline.

Fisher, Bundas, Stevens and Whitener teamed to win the 200-yard free relay in 1:27.56, almost 1.5 seconds faster than Pioneer’s relay team.

Walls won the 100-yard backstroke in 54.72 seconds. Matt Lund made the state cut with a time of 56.47 to take sixth. Stefan Koberl (10^th, 57.69) and Steven Rudnik (13^th, 1:01.06) also finished in the points for the Hornets.

Boland had no trouble winning the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 58.74. Pioneer’s Chris Klein was second in 1:01.62.

Boland said he didn’t go out with the intention of setting any records.

“I just wanted to come out here and race,” Boland said. “We’ve stepped the training down a little bit. We’re kind of in that awkward stage where we’re still a bit tired. But I think we’re right where we want to be.”

Duong (11^th, 1:05.23), McCullough (12^th, 1:05.23) and Rucinski (1:07.67) also scored for Saline.

Saline finished the day setting the SEC and pool record in the 400-free relay, winning in 3:09.36. Pioneer was second in 3:16.97. Boland, Fisher, Ehrman and Whitener won for Saline.